Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Delirium (Delirium Trilogy, #1)

by Lauren Oliver

Lena looks forward to receiving the government-mandated cure that prevents the delirium of love and leads to a safe, predictable, and happy life, until ninety-five days before her eighteenth birthday and her treatment, when she falls in love.

Reviewed by Angie on

4 of 5 stars

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Delirium is one of those books that was getting a lot of attention, grabbed my interest, but I kept putting it off. Now I must say if you have this one on your to-read, do it now! Do not wait! It will be well worth your time. I know there's a lot of Dystopian novels out there that promise a unique premise, and I definitely think that this one delivers.

This world is kind of scary in how believable it is. Not that I think our government would decide to come up with a "cure" for love. But love does cause people to do crazy things sometimes, so of course it can be twisted around and calle a disease. Falling in love is scary, but not for the reasons that the Book of Shhh feeds the citizens.`It's easy to buy into the concept of love being a disease that leads to so many problems, and our heroine, Lena, is like the poster child.

Lena was a completely refreshing character. It seems like in general the heroine of Dystopian novels are at least suspicious of the government that they live in, if not total rebels. Lena is 100% good girl. She honestly believes that getting the "cure" is the only way to live. No music, dancing, dreaming, flirting with boys, are the only way to protect herself from the same fate as her mother. Lena is horrified when her best friend is involved with the above activities. She can't wait to turn 18 and be free from the possibility of contracting deliria. At least until one night when she decides to prove to Hana that she can live a little and ends up meeting an uncured boy.

Meeting Alex shatters the bubble that Lena has been living in. He introduces to an array of brand new feelings and sensations, and soon Lena realizes that maybe love isn't what the government says it is. Of course, they want to run away together to avoid the cure, but it's not that simple. I was on the edge of my seat through the final third of Delirium. I knew something was going to go wrong, but I didn't know what form it would take. The ending is a major cliffhanger, so I need to get my hands on Pandemonium ASAP!

I would say that Delirium is one of my favorite Dystopians so far. It's unique and I was engaged from the very beginning. The world is disturbing, yet believable, and I think the author did an amazing job explaining it. There's little excerpts from various texts that the government issues that will just make you go "what?!" Those were definitely a nice touch. I wholly recommend this to all YA Dystopian fans.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 12 February, 2013: Finished reading
  • 12 February, 2013: Reviewed